Alzheimer’s and
Memory Loss

4 Things to Elder Proof Your Bathroom

From our Care Blog

Each year thousands* of people over the age of 55 are injured in the bathroom due to simple slip and falls while in the bath or using the bathroom. As the aging become more fragile or health problems and side effects from medications can increase chances of injury, there are simple additions you can make in their bathroom to reduce the risk of injuries or even death. Safety-Rails: Install grab bars by the toilet and in the shower. These need to be properly installed so they are secure enough to support weight. Also consider using shower chairs and bath benches...

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Health: Tips to Stay Cool during a Heat Wave

From our Care Blog

It’s August and that means it’s hot outside. Heat waves are hitting the U.S. hard and temperatures are soaring. For many people – especially our senior population - they do not have air conditioning. If you know someone in your neighborhood who does not have air conditioning and is struggling to keep cool, here are some tips for surviving a heat wave that you can share with them. Purchase a fan. Box fans and ceiling fans can promote air circulation throughout the home. Opening doors in the house and using box fans to push hot air outdoors can function as...

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Health: Foot Care and the Right Pair of Shoes

From our Care Blog

Be kind to your feet. As we age, the years of wear and tear can be hard on them. Disease, bad circulation, poorly trimmed toenails, and wearing shoes that don't fit can also harm your feet. Nurse Gina has discussed many times within the FirstLight Home Care family that foot problems are sometimes the first sign of more serious medical conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, and nerve or circulatory disorders. Her recommendations.... practice good foot care. The National Institute on Aging recommends that you look at your feet often; use a mirror to look at the bottoms of your feet....

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Family Discussion: Long Distance Caregiving

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Caregiving from a distance is no easy task. It can be stressful because you can’t be there at a moment’s notice when your parents need you.  To help reduce some of the stress and to help you organize the process for care when your loved ones do not live near you, we have put together some helpful tips we’ve gathered from Nurse Gina. Create a Contact List: Assemble and organize a contact list that includes addresses, phone numbers and emails of friends, neighbors, doctors, faith leaders and others in regular contact with your parents who you can be reached in...

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Restore Your Joy With These Caregiver Stress Relief Tips

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Find yourself overwhelmed with your caregiving duties? Try these caregiver stress relief tips from FirstLight Home Care.

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Thinking About Senior Care For Your Aging Parents?

From our Care Blog

Maybe your parents should no longer drive or have mobility issues. Maybe your Mom or Dad has dementia and needs constant monitoring. Whatever the case, baby boomers handling care for an elderly relative has become the “new normal.” In fact, more than 43.5 million Americans are caring for someone older than 50, according to the Family Caregiver Alliance. Whereas your parents used to take care of you, you may now find the roles reversed – you are now considering how to take care of them.  How could you not? They loved you and provided for you all those years so now...

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It Takes a Village

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Molly Rowe – Owner, FirstLight Home Care of Salem, MA Guilt, I’m discovering, is a huge part of this aging thing. Our parent feels guilt for putting us out, frets about being a burden, worries about picking up the phone to ask for help. We the adult children question our decisions, second-guess our actions, and feel guilt for all we can’t do. I feel similar guilt with my preschool-aged children—worrying about their school, wondering if I’m reading enough books, stressing because they like only one vegetable. But with young children, it’s ok—even expected—to ask for help. You hire a babysitter...

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Opening The Conversation on Care

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Molly Rowe owns FirstLight Home Care of Salem, MA with her husband, Steve, and lives in Swampscott with their two sons. A few weeks ago, I wrote about our regrets related to my father-in-law in the last few years of his life. Since then, I’ve heard many stories from people who’ve shared similar experiences caring for an aging parent or loved one. Every story is different of course, but there’s one sentence I keep hearing over and over: “Looking back, we should have had help.” It’s mind-boggling to me, really, that we are all in this “caring for our parent”...

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Living a Purpose-Filled Life At Any Age

From our Care Blog

Molly Rowe owns FirstLight Home Care of Salem, MA with her husband, Steve, and lives in Swampscott with their two sons. Molly Rowe - Owner, FirstLight Home Care of Salem, MA Of all the things that baffled us about our dad’s (my dad-in-law’s) behavior in the last few years of his life, there’s one thing that stands out most of all. It wasn’t that he started freezing all his food (including his butter) or sleeping in a chair every night. It was that he stopped doing crossword puzzles. Crossword puzzles were a mainstay in his house after his wife died...

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Conversations We Wish We’d Had

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Molly Rowe owns FirstLight Home Care of Salem, MA with her husband, Steve, and lives in Swampscott with their two sons. About a year ago last summer, my husband, his siblings, and I sat around our kitchen table having the conversation we’d long avoided—how to care for Dad. Like most people who end up sitting at this table, we had a lot of questions and not a lot of answers. We Googled things like home care and visiting nurses, debated how to take his driver’s license away, and fretted about how we’d bring it up to him. Little did we...

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